March resumé

Helsinki is a great city to bike, there are few slopes and nice bike paths within the city, and the suburbs also. With temperatures finally rising closer to two-digit degrees, it was finally the time to get my earmuffs and gloves on, and take my beloved Jopo out for a spin. The Jopo is a Finnish classic city bike developed in the 60s. It’s super easy for cruising around without any extra gadgets.

My favourite spot at Helsinkis southern coast, Eiranranta, gave me a literally warm welcome back. That view to the open sea is so stunningly beautiful!

After a while of uncalled for abstinence from Putte’s, I finally managed to indulge on their delicious four cheese monster again. Undoubtedly one of the very, very few pizza places in the city. Cocktails from SlingIn bar are the perfect follow-up to that, especially the Ginger Baker – an explosion of sweet and spicy, fresh ginger taste.

Finally I managed to catch a live show by my good friends’ rather new Helsinki-based band Whorion. Their first 5-track EP received great reviews from all over Europe, so it was about time I checked them out at a concert. The power of their technical death metal (especially the impressive drumming) effectively numbed my thinking (and jaw) for the duration of the short set and left me happy.

ITB Berlin invited me to participate in the ITB Summit and attend one travel trade day at the fair. But but but Gastro Helsinki was a foodies paradise, thousands of delicious samples made our taste buds dance and our tummies full. Thanks to STREAT for selecting me to partake in this great event and gave me the chance to explore Gastro!

Following my trip to Belfast I stopped by Berlin and Hamburg to attend ITB and see some good friends. Both cities seemed like a summer vacation after coming from freezing Belfast and London. So a few days of walking around, exploring and eating Vietnamese food at least once daily, made it almost perfect. Separate blogpost following, still!